


Maybe in Another Life

by happylikeafool



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Day 6, F/F, Swan Queen Week Winter 2017, Trapped In An AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-04
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-09-22 01:21:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9575540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happylikeafool/pseuds/happylikeafool
Summary: Emma trips and falls through a portal into an alternative universe where Regina and Emma are married with enough kids to start a basketball team. It's okay though, her Regina is definitely coming to rescue her from this super weird place, she knows it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So this was just supposed to be a little short sort of funny thing...and then it turned into more than 4000 words because apparently I don't know how to wrap things up. So, needless to say, it's a day late, but hopefully worth the wait. :)

It goes like this. 

 

Gold gets some hair brained idea that he's going to replace his dead son with a version of Baelfire/Neil from an alternative universe.

 

Because he's Gold he manages to get pretty far into his plan, as far as a swirly vortex to some alternative universe being opened in the park.

 

But also because he's Gold, a  _ villain _ , that's where his success ends.

 

Regina and Emma stop him, of course they do, because that's  _ their  _ thing.

 

The next part is supposed to be them at Granny's having a celebratory lunch. Emma's already talking about the grilled cheese she's going to order. There's just the matter of sorting out how to close the swirly portal, which turns out to be not so easy at all.

 

And then Emma trips, falls into said swirly portal, and disappears. 

 

_ Apparently _ sending a body through it is the way to close it because she lands with a thud on hard ground and it snaps shut with a strange popping sound.

 

_ Well crap,  _ she thinks,  _ I guess that grilled cheese is going to have to wait. _

 

xxxxxx

 

Emma stands, brushes grass off of her jeans and looks around. This park looks exactly the same as the one in her Storybrooke. She rubs the back of her neck and tries to decide what she's supposed to do. She needs Regina. Except Regina is on the other side of the no longer open swirly portal. She bites her lip, wonders if she should just stay here until Regina comes to rescue her - there is no doubt in her mind that Regina  _ will _ come, she’s just not sure how long it will take.

 

_ Maybe _ , she thinks,  _ maybe this Storybrooke has a Regina too _ . Maybe  _ that  _ Regina can help.

 

xxxxxx

 

She's on her way out of the park when the familiar looking brunette appears.  _ Well what do you know, _ Emma smiles to herself and picks up her pace a bit. It's only as she gets closer that she really clues in that Regina is pushing a stroller and that there is a tiny dark haired child walking beside her - he’s two, maybe three.  _ Weird _ , she thinks. 

 

The child is the one to spot her first and his eyes widen in delight. “Mama!” he shouts and pulls away from Regina, barreling towards her with his arms outstretched.

 

Her eyes widen in surprise and she catches the child as he literally flings himself at her. She lifts him up, her brow scrunching up in confusion.  _ Did he just call her Mama? Is Regina like her nanny in this world or something? _

 

The child grins, wraps his little legs around her waist and his little arms around her neck, “Why you here?”

 

Regina with the stroller is in front of her now. “Emma?” she says, her head tilting, “Why aren't you at work?” her eyes sweep Emma up and down suspiciously, “And why are you wearing different clothes than this morning?”

 

Emma just stares wide eyed not sure exactly where to begin trying to explain this.

 

Regina stiffens, her eyes narrowing further and her jaw setting. “Put my son down,” she hisses, her voice low and dangerous.

 

_ Her son? _ Emma doesn’t really have time to process the part where a boy who calls her mama is also Regina’s child because Regina looks like she’s about three seconds away from attempting to murder her. Emma nods slowly and sets the little boy down gently on the ground.

 

“Braydan,”  Regina calls carefully, “Come here.”

 

The little boy,  _ Braydan _ , looks between Emma and Regina in confusion, but after a tension filled moment he hops,  _ literally _ hops, over to Regina, slipping his little fingers into her hand, as she moves her body so that it is shielding both him and the stroller from Emma. 

 

Regina pulls out her phone, her eyes, filled with fierce protectiveness, still trained on Emma as she dials a number. “You need to come to the park right now. I’ll explain when you get here.”

 

xxxxxx 

 

While they wait for whoever was on the other end of the phone, Emma tries to explain to Regina that she’s not some big bad come here to hurt anyone, she’s just a little lost. “See,” she attempts an explanation, “Gold was trying to, like, get to an alternative universe to try and kidnap his son…” she pauses as a thought occurs to her, “Wait. Is it still called kidnap if you’re an adult?” Regina shoots her an incredulous look and Emma shakes her head, realizes she’s getting off track, “Yeah. So Gold opened this swirly portal thing so that he could come here and find Neil...but we-” she bites her lips, thinks a second, “Well not  _ we _ ,” she motions between herself and the Regina standing in front of her, “But me and  _ my  _ Regina. We stopped him before he could. But then I sort of tripped and fell into the swirly portal. And here I am.”

 

“You tripped and fell,” Regina repeats back to Emma incredulously, her face unreadable.   

 

“Yes,” Emma nods, mildly embarrassed at having revealed her own clumsiness.

 

“Okay,” Regina says carefully.  

 

“Okay?” Emma eyes her curiously.

 

“I may believe your story,” Regina still looks cautious but she seems less suspicious. 

 

Emma smiles at that and then is promptly tackled to the ground by herself.  

 

“What the hell,” she hisses, as she tries to roll away from this universe’s Emma.

 

“Who are you? What are you trying to do with my family?” Other Emma growls, bounces off the ground, and pulls her service revolver out, aiming it at Emma, who’s still on the ground.

 

“ _ Emma _ ,” Regina hisses and both blondes turn their heads to look at her. Regina shakes her head and trains her eyes on the Emma from this universe, “I don’t think she’s here to hurt us. She says she’s from an alternative universe. She tripped and fell through a portal, which does sound an awful lot like something you would do.”  

 

“ _ Hey _ ,” this universe’s Emma whines, pouting until Regina rolls her eyes at her. Her eyes turn curiously to study Emma on the ground, her grip on her service revolver loosening, although it’s still aimed at Emma’s chest, “Why should we believe that story?”

 

Emma’s heart races in her chest as she tries to figure out what to say to herself. “Umm…” she bites her lip and then decides, “Try your superpower. I’m not lying.”

 

Other Emma’s brow knits together, her eyes narrowed, “You could have heard about that from someone else. And just because it doesn’t seem like you’re lying...doesn’t mean you aren’t.”

 

Emma sighs. She should have known she would be hard to convince. “Okay...then...I dunno...I’m not sure how alternate this alternate universe is. But Storybrooke looks pretty much the same...so maybe we had the same childhood? Ask me something?”  

 

“Fine. Worst foster home?”

 

“Hendersons,” Emma says without any thought whatsoever. They’ve either had the same childhood and it’s exactly the right answer, or they haven’t and it won’t matter what she says. 

 

Other Emma still looks wary but then with a deep sigh she reholsters her weapon and holds out her hand to help Emma up off of the ground. 

 

When Emma is standing, brushing grass off her pants for the second time today, she regards Other Emma and Regina carefully, “So you can help me get back to where I belong, right?”

 

Other Emma is pulling an itty bitty baby out of the stroller while Brayden clings to one of her legs and she looks over when Emma asks the question, her face pulling into a grimace.  

 

Regina’s lips purse. “That may be a problem,” she says after a beat, “there’s no magic here.”

 

“Well, crap,” Emma mumbles, runs a hand through her hair, and shrugs. She isn’t too concerned, she’s still positive her Regina is coming for her. She looks between this Regina and this Emma holding the baby with the little boy clinging to her leg. These are clearly this Emma’s kids, but they also seem to be this Regina’s. She can’t help but ask, “So...like...you two are….together?”

 

Regina gives her a strange look but she nods, “Yes.”

 

_ Well that’s something that’s different.  _ She supposes that’s why they call it an alternative universe. 

 

xxxxxx

 

They take her back to the 108 Mifflin Street. It’s the same house as the one from Emma’s world, expect not at all. 

 

For starters, there’s a pile of shoes in the entranceway, all kinds of different sizes and styles, that makes it look like twenty people live here. The random pile of shoes seems so anti everything Emma thinks she knows about Regina, well about  _ her _ Regina, that she can’t help but get a little bug eyed looking at the pile. 

 

Other Emma seems to recognizes what the look is about because she chuckles, “Regina finally gave up trying to organize the shoes. It was a fruitless endeavour, really. She still cringes every time she walks by it though.”

 

“Oh,” Emma looks over at Other Emma who’s got the baby,  _ Sara  _ she is told, balanced on her hip. 

 

Sara’s head tilts humorously between her mother and the Emma that isn’t her mother, clearly so very confused about why there are two of them. 

 

Regina shakes her head, “You’re confusing the poor baby.” 

 

“Mama!” Brayden calls from where he has already scampered off into the house, “Play dinosaurs!”  

 

“Duty calls,” Other Emma grins, hands the baby off to Regina and disappears, presumably to wherever Brayden is.

 

xxxxxx

 

Regina leads Emma into the living room. There are so many pictures hanging on the wall and Emma can’t help but stare at them in fascination. She stops first in front of a wedding picture, it’s this universe’s Regina and this universe’s Emma in gorgeous dresses and a Henry that looks about twelve dressed in a tuxedo, all beaming. “You got married? She doesn't look away from the picture when she asks it. 

 

“You didn't?” Regina sounds curious, although she must have suspected based on Emma’s earlier question at the park regarding their relationship status. 

 

“No,” Emma looks over at Regina then.

 

Regina’s head tilts, her lips purse a moment as she contemplates that, “What happened after the curse broke, then?”

 

Emma's not really sure she understands the question. “Umm...I fell through a portal to the enchanted forest?” 

 

Regina bounces Sara on her hip and quirks an eyebrow, amused, “Do you make it a regular habit of falling through portals?”

 

Emma shrugs, ducks her head in something like embarrassment and turns her attention back to the pictures. They are mostly pictures of kids. At first she can't really sort out how many children there are, it seems like an endless amount, and then her eyes land on a recent family photo. She goes a little slack jawed as she stares at it. There's Henry, as tall as  _ her _ Henry, the only real difference being that this Henry seems to have slightly longer hair. There's Emma holding Brayden and Regina holding baby Sara, who looks only days old in the photo, and there are two more children. A boy with red hair and green eyes and freckles and glasses who looks younger than ten, maybe eight or nine, and a girl with long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes who looks a few years younger than Henry. She finally manages to draw her eyes away from the photo to look curiously over at Regina, “How long have you been together?” She wonders if maybe the curse got broken earlier here. Long enough ago for them to have become a family of seven. 

 

“About five years. Since a few months before the curse broke,” Regina answers.

 

“But…” Emma’s brow scrunches up as she looks back at the photo. There’s so many things that confuse her about Regina’s answer, she’s not really sure where to start. 

 

“Emma gave birth to Brayden and Sara. We adopted Izzie and Jake,” Regina provides the explanation for the ages of their children. She moves closer, so that they’re standing nearly shoulder to shoulder and points to the blonde in the picture, “This is Izzie, we adopted her three years ago when she was ten. And we adopted Jake last year,” she points to the red haired boy, “He just turned nine last month.” 

 

Emma bites her lip, her heart suddenly hammering loudly in her chest.

 

Regina eyes her knowingly, as if she understands things Emma can’t even name. “It was important to Emma,” Regina says softly, “that we adopt children who might not otherwise find a family.” Regina smiles fondly. 

 

Emma swallows, stares at the family picture and can’t help but feel a ping of something - maybe it’s jealousy, or maybe just longing. The truth is, she’s had feelings for  _ her _ Regina for what may as well be forever but they’ve always seemed like nothing more than a dream, an impossibility. She’s always been sure that her Regina wouldn’t, couldn’t possibly, return those feelings. She’s still pretty sure that’s true. It’s weird though, to see what could come from them being together. A family of people to love her. Not that she doesn’t have family - there’s her parents, and her brother, and Henry, of course. But this is something else entirely. In another life she has a wife and five children, a family that she created that is all hers. And ten year old Emma, the little girl unloved and returned too many times to count,  is screaming inside her, shouting about what apparently could have been but that she didn’t get to have.     

 

Regina seems to sense Emma’s mood shift because she offers, “Would you like some lunch?”

 

xxxxxx

 

“Will you take Sara?” Regina asks once they are in the kitchen.

 

Emma’s eyes widen in surprise, “Umm...yeah...sure,” she swallows uncertainly. She sometimes holds her brother, so it’s not like she doesn’t know how to hold a baby, but she isn’t exactly confident in her ability to not harm such a tiny little thing.  

 

Regina smiles in amusement at her, giving her that same knowing look from before, as if she understands everything about her, which maybe she does. “You’re not going to hurt her,” she reassures, carefully transferring the four month old into Emma’s arm.

 

The baby blinks up at Emma, gurgling at her, and Emma can’t help but smile. 

 

Regina sets bread next to the stove, pulls cheese and butter out of the fridge, and takes out a skillet pan. “I’m assuming you like grilled cheese,” she calls over her shoulder to Emma.

 

Emma doesn’t look up from the baby, but she grins, “Yes, I do.” Apparently she will be getting that grilled cheese after all.

 

Other Emma comes into the kitchen then, Brayden on her back. He’s giggling uncontrollably as Other Emma makes some kind of strange noise that Emma supposes must be an imitation of an animal of some sort.

 

Brayden giggles louder, calls out, “Mommy, mommy!” When Regina turns to look at them he grins at her, “Mommy, I riding a dinosaur!” 

 

Regina smiles fondly at the pair, “Well that sounds like hard work buddy. You must be hungry.”  

 

xxxxxx

 

After lunch both Sara and Brayden get put down for a nap and Regina and Emma and Emma conveen in the living room.

 

It doesn’t take long for them to figure out where this alternate universe became alternate from Emma’s own. There was no apple turnover here. No Henry in a hospital and Emma kissing him to end the curse. There was a different kiss. One that involved this Regina and this Emma standing under the stars. 

 

And Emma doesn’t even know how to process that. Doesn’t know how to deal with the fact that there is an alternative universe where she and Regina aren’t only married but have True Love. It seems...well, it seems unfair, she decides. She knows it’s ridiculous but she’s suddenly so very jealous of herself. 

 

xxxxxx

 

Henry, Izzie, and Jake come home from school shortly after Brayden and Sara wake from nap time and the house is suddenly bursting with energy, and noise, and love.

 

Henry knows something is up as soon as he lays eyes on Emma who is not his mom Emma and he drags Regina out of the room to explain to him what is going on. 

 

Jake seems to have no opinion, he just eyes Emma shyly from where he is snuggled into his mother’s side. Other Emma ruffles his red hair, kisses the top of his head, and asks how his day was. He mumbles something quietly that Emma can’t hear but it makes Other Emma smile and she kisses his head again.

 

“How ‘bout you, Iz?” Other Emma asks her daughter, “How was school?”

 

Izzie shrugs at her mother, her blue eyes turning to look at Emma curiously, if not a bit suspiciously, much more interested in the stranger in her home than talking about her day. “So you’re...my mom’s twin?” she says uncertainly.

 

“Umm...yeah,” Emma says when Other Emma shoots her a ‘play along’ look. 

 

“How come we’ve never met you before?” Izzie quirks an eyebrow in a perfect imitation of Regina. 

 

“I...uhh...live really really  _ really  _ far away.”

 

xxxxxx

 

Later, once all of the kids are in bed for the night, Regina pours three glasses of cider. 

 

“So how are we going to get you home?” Other Emma asks.

 

Emma just shrugs, “I’m not too worried. Regina...the Regina from my universe...she’ll figure out how to come get me eventually.” 

 

Other Emma and Regina share a knowing look, they both smirk. Other Emma’s eyes are twinkling when she looks back at her could-be-twin, “So you  _ are _ in love with each other there too then?”

 

“What? No!” Emma’s response is a little too quick, a little too loud, “It isn’t...we aren’t. We just  _ aren’t _ ,” she insists. 

 

Other Emma waggles her eyebrows up and down, and she looks like she’s on the verge of laughter, “You sure about that?”

 

Emma glares at her but she can’t contain the blush in her cheeks.

 

“So clearly other me loves the other you,” Other Emma does laugh then, not at all bothered by the second glare she receives, her eyes sliding over to her wife, “Any guesses about other you?”

 

“If I  _ have  _ to hazard a guess, I’d say the feelings are most likely mutual,” Regina decides. She doesn’t justify the opinion but her expression makes it seem like she feels pretty certain about the statement.  

 

Emma scowls.  _ How dare these people give her hope like that? _

 

xxxxxx

 

It takes a day and a half but just as Emma predicted, Regina turns up to rescue her. 

 

“Oh thank god you're here,” Emma breathes a sigh of relief at the sight of  _ her  _ Regina standing in front of the police station. She isn’t sure where Other Emma, who’d called the mansion to inform them that Regina had come to station looking for her, is but she’s sort of glad to have this moment alone with  _ her _ Regina. She has the urge to hug Regina but she slams her hands into her pockets instead. “I told them you'd come for me,” she smiles at Regina and then adds, “It's  _ so _ fucking weird here.”

 

Regina quirks an eyebrow, “Is the cursing really necessary?”

 

“Yes,” Emma nods seriously, widening her eyes for effect, “We're  _ married. _ ” 

 

Regina’s eyebrows arch high towards her hairline, “ _ What? _ ”

 

“Well...not  _ we _ ,” Emma motions between herself and Regina, “The Emma and Regina that live here in this weird as fuck place where they were the ones who broke the curse with True Love’s kiss and then got married and decided that they should have five kids.  _ Five  _ Regina. It's not just Henry. There's  _ five _ of them.  _ Five.  _ That’s enough to start a basketball team.”

 

“Say  _ five _ one more time,” Regina shakes her head at Emma, her expression a mixture of incredulous and amused. 

 

“ _ Five _ ,” Emma stage whispers it because she knows it will make Regina roll her eyes, which indeed it does. 

 

Regina shakes her head again but she looks sort of bemused now, “The curse was really broken here by us... _ them _ ?”

 

“Weird, right?” Emma nods, chuckles sort of uncomfortably. What she wants is for Regina to say that,  _ no _ , it isn't weird. She wants some kind of sign that maybe Regina,  _ her  _ Regina, could like her,  _ love  _ her, the way that this universe’s Regina loves this universe's Emma. Because she could love her Regina so easily, she sort of already does. 

 

Regina says nothing, her lips just pursing together a long moment. “Interesting,” is all she says when she finally does speak, her expression giving nothing away.

 

Emma tries not to look disappointed, isn’t sure she’s succeeding, and she rocks on the balls of her feet and tries to deflect the conversation away from this increasingly uncomfortable topic, “Sooo….how are we getting home, anyway?”

 

“I left your parents everything that they need to open a portal again. We’ll be able to go through it from this side. I wasn’t sure exactly where you would be, so I told them to wait three hours so that I had time to find you,” Regina explains. 

 

“So we’ve got, like, two and half hours to kill?” Emma asks.

 

“Yes,” Regina nods. 

 

xxxxxx

 

Other Emma takes them home so that Regina can meet the other her and the brood of children that would have been hers if only one thing had been different.

 

Regina is clearly fascinated by them all and absolutely in love with itty bitty baby Sara, who she picks up and doesn’t put down for an hour straight.

If Sara had been confused by two Emma’s, she’s beyond confused by there now also being two Regina’s, and it’s quite hilarious.

 

Izzie is definitely not buying that both of her mother’s have secret identical twins that she didn’t know about - someone is definitely going to have to explain some things to her and Emma is just glad that that is Other Emma and Other Regina’s problem.  

 

Jake has finally warmed up to Emma and her heart nearly melts when he looks up at her with those big green eyes and asks her if she wants to play a game with him.  

 

Brayden runs circles around all of them - in only a day and a half, it has become apparent to Emma that he has an endless supply of energy. 

 

Henry just watches the whole thing with amusement. 

 

And Other Regina and Other Emma just keep eyeing their alternative versions with those horrible knowing looks that make Emma feel hopeful when she doesn’t want to. 

 

xxxxxx

Two and a half hours go quickly and it isn’t long before they are saying goodbye to these other versions of themselves and the children that might have been. 

 

Emma and Regina walk to the park together in mostly silence. It’s Emma who breaks the silence eventually, “So I was right...it’s weird, huh?”

 

Regina eyes her carefully, like she’s trying to figure something out. After a long moment of silence she says, “No. Not weird...just different.” 

 

Emma swallows, wonders if there’s something like an admission in Regina’s words, but convinces herself just as quickly that she’s imagining that. They’re at the park now and Emma stops, rocks on the balls of her feet, shoves her hands in her pockets, “How long till it’s time?”

 

Regina checks her watch, “Six minutes.”

 

Emma nods, rocks on the balls of her feet again. “Regina?” she says carefully.

 

Regina looks over at her, brown eyes filled with curiosity.

 

“I just...thanks for coming to get me.”

 

One side of Regina’s mouth tugs into a half smile, “Of course. You would have done the same.”

 

Emma nods, because it’s true, of course it’s true. Emma would do anything for Regina. But she’s pretty sure that that statement is true in reverse as well. After all, Regina is here now, in an alternative universe, rescuing Emma,  _ literally _ proving that it’s true.  _ But what does that really mean?  _ She thinks of all of Other Emma and Other Regina’s knowing looks. Wonders if maybe there is something here between her and Regina that she’s just been missing. She hates the way her heart flips, thumps loudly in her chest, at even the possibility. “Regina?” Emma breaks the silence once more. 

 

“Yes?” Regina quirks a curious eyebrow.  

 

“Would you…” Emma hesitates, rakes a nervous hand through her hair, and then rushes out, “Would you want to have dinner when we get back? I mean...just the two of us. Like...uh...like a date.” She’s a rambling mess but she can’t stop herself. 

 

“ _ Emma _ ,” Regina says carefully, cutting the rambling off. She eyes her so seriously, “You don’t have to do this. Just because the you and I from this universe are together, it doesn’t have to mean anything about  _ us _ .”

 

“Oh,” Emma’s shoulders sag, her stomach twisting, and she’s overcome with defeat. She should have known better than to hope. 

 

“Unless…” 

 

Regina’s voice is hesitant but there’s a flicker of hope in Emma’s chest as she looks back up at her, eyeing her earnestly. 

 

“Unless,” Regina starts again, “unless this isn’t just something you want because this alternative universe made you think you  _ should _ want it.”

 

Emma swallows thickly, her heart thumping loudly in her chest. “It isn’t,” it’s practically a whisper, “I...it’s not because of  _ them _ . Not really. I just…I just never thought it was an option. I never thought you’d want me.”

 

“Oh Emma,” Regina sighs softly, and she’s smiling slow, and soft, and filled with fondness, “How could you think that?”   

 

Emma just shrugs her shoulders, gnaws her lip.

 

Regina shakes her head and is still smiling when she says, “Okay.”

 

“Okay?” Emma tilts her head in confusion, not really sure what Regina is saying. 

 

“Okay, we can go to dinner,” Regina clarifies. 

 

“Oh…” Emma’s eyes widen. “Okay,” Emma grins and it lights up her whole face. 

 

Regina smiles back, that same soft smile filled with fondness.  

 

The swirly portal opens, startling them both. 

 

Emma laughs at their reaction and then reaches her hand out for Regina to take, “Ready to go home?”

 

Regina laces their fingers together, squeezes Emma’s hand and nods, “Yes, yes I am.”


End file.
